A Social Study of the Russian German gt 
lation which they form. In the past fifteen years, 34 suits have 
been filed in Lancaster county, an average of a little over 2 suits 
per year. The average number of divorces for the county at 
large in the five years, 1909-1913, has been 240 annually,®® during 
which period the Russian German has averaged 4.2 divorces. 
while comprising about one twelfth of the population. In other 
words, if the Russian German had secured divorces in the same 
proportion as the population of the county in: general, he would 
have averaged 20 divorces per year instead of 4.2. 
In spite of the comparatively low divorce rate among the 
Russian Germans, one of their number on being told that there 
had been 34 cases in 15 years, expressed the general sentiment of 
the community by saying: “Well, that’s just 33 too many.” 
Another man, educated in a Russian college and much influenced 
by the writings of Tolstoi, expressed the belief that, even with 
the evils connected with American divorce, conditions were vastly 
preferable to those in Russia where an exceedingly low rate is 
maintained. Jt is his belief that families in America, on the 
whole, are happier and that family morals are purer. 
A number of interesting facts may be noted from the above 
table. One is the increased number of cases in which the wife 
appears as plaintiff. In the first 17 instances, the husband filed 
the original suit in 11 cases and the wife in 6; in the last 17, 
the wife filed in 12 cases and the husband in 5. This is a measure 
of the growing independence and individualization of the Russian 
German woman, and of her realization that public sentiment does 
not force her to suffer—indeed does not approve of her suffering 
—at the hands of a really cruel husband. Several of these suits 
have been directed by American women who have employed these 
foreign women, usually in the capacity of home laundresses. As 
a rule these cases are marriages of long standing, usually con- 
tracted in Russia, and involving several minor children. Others, 
however, are young Russian German girls lacking in stability, 
who feel that they are demonstrating their degree of Americaniza- 
tion by their promptness in rushing into the divorce court. 
A second noticeable fact is the small number of children in- 
86 Nebraska State Board of Health, Divorce Records. 
Baz: 
